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Join an esteemed panel of historians and writers to virtually celebrate the republication of an early anti-imperial feminist classic.
First published on the eve of the Second World War and, until now, buried in the archives, this unique document from the first global feminist movement is testimony to the deep historical roots of revolutionary feminist thought and action.
For Amia Srinivasan, Kamaladevi’s The Awakening of Indian Women is “radical and visionary” and “deserves a place on feminist reading lists and in the wider transnationalist feminist imagination. Among other things, it is a potent reminder that feminism is not an invention or prerogative of the West.”
Told by a vibrant cast of activists at the centre of feminist and anti-imperial struggles, Awakening includes a historical account of the Indian feminist movement written by Irish suffrage activist and anti-colonial agitator Margaret Cousins.
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (3 April 1903 to 29 October 1988) was an artist, activist and a central figure in the inter-war Indian feminist movement. A twentieth century Indian feminist icon, after independence she is celebrated for leading the revival of Indian handicrafts, handlooms, and theatre after independence.
Panellists
Sumita Mukherjee, Associate Professor in Modern History, University of Bristol and author of Indian Suffragettes: Female Identities and Transnational Networks (2018).
Kama Maclean, Professor of History in the South Asia Institute at the University of Heidelberg, Germany and author of A Revolutionary History of Interwar India (OUP 2015).
Uditi Sen, Director of Liberal Arts and Associate Professor specialising in the History of South Asia at University of Nottingham.
Rosalind Parr, Lecturer in Modern History, Glasgow Caledonian University and author of Citizens of Everywhere: Indian Women, Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism, 1920-1952 (2022).
Introduced by Amina Yaqin, Associate Professor in World Literatures and Publishing, University of Exeter, and author of Gender, Sexuality and Feminism in Pakistani Urdu Writing (2022).
Chaired by Diva Gujral, LSE Fellow in Twentieth-century Indian and Global Imperial History, Department of International History
About us
The British Library of Political and Economic Science (@LSELibrary) was founded in 1896, a year after the London School of Economics and Political Science. It has been based in the Lionel Robbins Building since 1978 and houses many world class collections, including The Women's Library and the Hall-Carpenter Archives.
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